I've recently mentioned my concern over the divergence between small- and large-caps in the last month, but it looks as if a correction is going on in today's trading.  With the Dow treading water and S&P holding up slightly, the Russell 2000 is up nearly 1% on the day.  This move seems to be relatively independent of the NASDAQ's strength today. 

    To illustrate how much this correction was needed to indicate a sustained total market rally, here are the monthly and 3-day charts for the Russell 2000 tracker IWM, the Diamonds DIA ETF, and the S&P 500 tracker SPY.

    As you can see, the Russell 2000 was hardly positive for the past month, between 2 and 4 percent behind the other major indexes. 

    As of today's open, the S&P 500 and the Russell were relatively even over the past 3 days, with the Dow trailing just below.  As is quite visible, however, the Russell 2000 has gained a dramatic percent since open.

     If this truly is a correction and small cap indexes close the gap on their larger brethren this week, it could signal a stronger market than many currently forecast.